Fulton Street in Fresno reconstruction project

Fulton Street was once one of the primary downtown streets in Fresno until it was sectioned off into the pedestrian Fulton Mall in 1964. At the time US 99 would have just moved to a full freeway bypass of downtown Fresno both California State Routes 41 and 180 were realigned on more modernized surface routes. Apparently northward growth through the city of Fresno progressed northward into the 1980s which led to a decline of the Fulton Mall. The city of Fresno through the previous year has been gradually been reconstructing Fulton Street this past year and it is set to open completely on the 21st of October.

With all that said, I found myself with some spare time this afternoon and went to downtown Fresno to see the Fulton Street for myself. Surprisingly much of the former pedestrian mall has already been opened to traffic. I started my walk through the Fulton Street project at Inyo Street and made my way northward.

Fulton Street is lined with new and renovated art structures.

This view down Kern Street towards Chukchanski Park would have previously been US 99 on Broadway over half a century ago.

Personally I think the best view from Fulton Street is looking north from Kern.

More art between Kern Street and Tulare Street.

Fulton Street between Tulare and Fresno Street is still closed but the roadway is essentially close to complete. It seems that signs still need to be hung, the pavement markings need to be placed, and a couple sewage line holes need to be filled.

Fulton north from Fresno Street to Tuolumne has been already opened to traffic.

The Fulton Street project is certainly an interesting one, I guess time will only tell if it helps revitalize downtown Fresno. There were other curious onlookers walking Fulton but there still was a lot of vagrants and closed shops. The Art Deco motif is kind of cool and I'm looking forward to seeing what the opening event is like on the 21st. Below I included some links about the Fulton Street project:

Fulton Street construction time lapse

Fulton Street construction overview

Fulton Street opening timeline

Edit 3/6/19: This past week I was testing out a new camera in my car. That being the case I head north on Fulton Street from Ventura Avenue to Divisadero and took pictures along the way.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove